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BY GREG WATERS D ENNY MCCARTHY HAD A very good 2014. After finishing second at the ACC Championships, McCarthy scored the second-best finish ever by a UVa player with his sixth- place showing at the NCAA Championships, made a semifinal run in the U.S. Amateur Championships and topped it all off with an 8-under-par 64 to help the U.S. team claim the title at the World Amateur Team Championships last September in Japan. He's hoping for a better 2015, capped off by ACC and NCAA title runs. "I've had a good career here so far, but in my mind I haven't, and we haven't as a team, accom- plished what I think we really can," the 2014 PING and Golfweek second-team All-American said. "My career's not over and I'd like to accomplish us win- ning an ACC championship. We've never done that at Virginia, and I'd like to give that back to coach [Bowen] Sargent. That's something he's talked about and I know he wants an ACC title really bad. "I'd like to also make it to nationals and make a push toward a team national championship. I think we have the talent to do it and the mentality going into it." McCarthy, who can become only the second Cavalier to compete in three NCAA Individual Championships, is among 24 collegiate golfers named to the watch list for the 2015 Ben Hogan Award. It marks the second consecutive season he has been a candidate for the most prestigious award in men's college golf, presented annually to the na- tion's top player. The Georgetown Prep standout has produced one of the most stellar careers of any Virginia golfer, but that was the expectation when he arrived in Charlottesville. When McCarthy entered UVa, he was part of what many consider the greatest golf recruiting class ever. The class included names such as Pat- rick Rodgers (Stanford), Anthony Paolucci (South- ern Cal), Justin Thomas (Alabama), Jay Berger (Florida State), Oliver Schniederjans (Georgia Tech) and Michael Johnson (Auburn). But despite a highly successful junior career, McCarthy was still somewhat of an unknown according to Sar- gent. "He took a little different course," Sargent said. "He did it in Junior Golf as well. Denny didn't travel around the world and play, and kind of stayed in Maryland and did his thing. "It wasn't until late in his sophomore, early in his COMPETITIVE Denny McCarthy's Desire To Succeed Has Helped Him Develop Into One Of The Nation's Top Golfers DRIVE